When we were recently invited to attend the third—in the past 100 years—International Maya Conference at Copan, my husband, photographer John Montgomery, and I grabbed notebooks, cameras, and sunscreen, and headed for the cloud forests of Honduras.

Thirty years earlier, I had visited many of the great Maya sites of Central America and Mexico. At that time, Copan was in the early stages of excavation. To get there, I stuck out my thumb and hitched a ride with a Honduran military jeep deep into the rain forest on a rutted dirt road leading to Copan Ruinas. Many hours later, after pushing the jeep across numerous river fords, we arrived at Copan, what some now call “The Paris of Maya Culture,” or “The Athens of the New World.” …………..

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My ideal travel is to learn something new, especially about ancient or unknown worlds, lose myself in nature and exercise, and be pampered in total relaxation—not necessarily all at the same time. Honduras offers all of this and more. According to Moon Handbooks, Honduras is “one of the most naturally beautiful and least explored areas of Central America.” The Mesoamerican Reef, just off its Caribbean coast, is the second largest coral reef in the world, offering some of the best diving and good values in the Caribbean.

Thirty years earlier, it was on Roatan that I learned to dive. On a rainy Christmas eve, I made the short hop from la Ceiba on the mainland, landing on the island’s dirt runway, sharing a tiny plane filled with missionaries, the door held shut with a wire hanger. Today we arrived at the RoatanInternational Airport and entered the air-conditioned terminal. (Contact Diane for rest of article)

1021 Sanchez (nr. 24th Street), San Francisco. Admission is free.

Judges’ comment: “This website pulled me in further and further.”

Book Passage, Corte Madera, August 26, 2007. S.F. Greek Consul General will attend.

Get Lost Books, San Francisco, May 17, 2007

http://douglassalumnae.rutgers.edu

The Zagoren Lecture honors Adelaide Marcus Zagoren ‘40, former executive director of the Associate Alumnae of Douglass College.

The nuts and bolts for budding travel writers, the class will include the cream of my 12 week courses I’ve taught in Paris for Study Abroad Programs and at Canada College for many years. From adventure to notes to rough drafts to publication, we’ll cover it all! How to use photography to enhance your writing. How being a travel writer makes your travel adventures even better.”